Don't Make These Smartphone Business Blunders

At first glance, using your cell phone as a businesscommunication tool makes perfect sense. It's lighter than a laptop, fits easilyin your pocket, purse or the palm of your hand, connects to the internet nearlyeverywhere you go, and seemingly provides instant access to everything you needwhen you're out of the office.

So why am I opposed to using an iPhone, BlackbBerry, Palmor other smart phone for business communication? I'm not. These are fantasticdevices for communicating your message. I'm old enough to remember when you hadto hunt down a street corner phone booth and plunk in a quarter in order tocheck in with the office. I get the convenience.

What I don't get is why some BIZ Experiencess choose to usea smart phone as the primary device for their written communications. I mean,think about it. The screen on the iPhone is under 2x3 inches, and workablescreenage on the Palm is barely 2.5x1.7 inches. Heck, the BlackBerry, known asthe "businessman's phone," has a screen size of 2x1.5 inches. Exactly how muchconstructive communicating can you do in a space the size of four postagestamps? Not much, that's how much.

Why would you choose to force the majority of your written communication through a miniscule thumb-operated keyboard and teensy screen that puts permanent squint lines on your face and is prone to spelling errors galore? What are you creating for your customers, peers and prospects when you try and get a lucid, well-constructed message across with not much more than a series of abbreviations and slang? OMG! Professionalism -- not to mention clarity -- goes right out the window.

I can't begin to tell you how much of my time is wasted -- utterly wasted -- by business people who insist on using their smart phone as a substitute for their laptop or desktop computer. While sending emails today may be considered "old school," at least it's not limited to 140 characters and you can get your message across without creating unnecessary confusion for the rest of us.

How in the world do you successfully open, read and edit a Microsoft Word document, PowerPoint presentation, Excel spreadsheet or other editable content on your cell phone? I'm telling you it can't be done efficiently. For one thing, it's going to take you a lot longer than doing it "old school" on your computer. And it's going to be prone to mistakes, oversights and all the other problems associated with communicating on the small screen. You're wasting your time and more importantly, that of your customer.

I certainly understand why texting, tweeting, instant messaging and poking are all the rage. They're short, sweet and to-the-point messages -- simple yes and no and other responses that can be clearly articulated in 140-character salvos.

But trying to convince yourself, or me -- when I'm sitting on the other end of your misspelled, incomplete, inarticulate, rushed messages -- that the same holds true for your written business communications, is a grave mistake.

BSF (but seriously folks), if this is where business communication is heading, we're all OTAUL (out to an unsavory lunch).